Beyond 9-9-9: Herman Cain On Health Policy

As GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain's polling numbers surge, the Wall Street Journal examines his positions on health policy. Meanwhile, in other news from the Republican primary race, the Des Moines Register reports that Michele Bachmann is warning that the Supreme Court cannot be trusted to undo the health law, while the Texas Tribune takes a look at Rick Perry and Planned Parenthood.

The Wall Street Journal: On Health Care, Cain Returns Home
Herman Cain has surged in the Republican presidential contest with his plan to overhaul taxation. It was an equally contentious issue — health care — that put him on the political map in the first place 17 years ago (Adamy, 10/15).

Des Moines Register: Michele Bachmann: Don't Trust Supreme Court To Repeal Health Care Law
Michele Bachmann said ... the federal health care law she derisively refers to as "Obamacare" must be repealed by Congress — not through a Supreme Court ruling or executive action. One goal during a general election campaign for president, she said, would be to elect a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate to secure the law's repeal (Noble, 10/15).

The Texas Tribune: Perry 'Hates' Cancer, But Budget Cuts Slash HPV Tests
On the presidential campaign trail, Gov. Rick Perry has explained his much-maligned effort to make the human papillomavirus vaccine mandatory for school-aged girls by saying he hates the cervical cancer it causes and will "always err on the side of savings lives." Yet he gets some of his biggest applause in early primary states when he brags of signing a state budget that largely defunds Planned Parenthood — which provides four times more cervical cancer screenings every year in Texas than abortions. Perry and lawmakers curtailed funding for Planned Parenthood earlier this year by cutting the state's family planning budget by nearly 66 percent, from $111.5 million last biennium to $37.9 million in the next two years. In Texas, these state-funded family planning services have included birth control, STD testing, breast cancer exams, and pap smears that screen for HPV, the virus that can lead to cervical cancer — but not abortions (Ramshaw and Tan, 10/17).

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.